Pete Alonso on Friday golfed an early three-run homer as the Mets hammered an ineffective Jack Flaherty, extending the National League Championship Series with a 12-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5.
“We understood that this is a do-or-die game and we have to give everything we had, and that’s what we did,” shortstop Francisco Lindor said.
Starling Marte had three doubles, four hits and three RBIs for New York. Francisco Alvarez broke out of a slump with three hits — including an RBI single in a five-run third inning.
Photo: AFP
Jesse Winker laced an RBI triple and so did Lindor, feeling good vibes after The Temptations performed his cheery walk-up song, My Girl, on the field before the game.
“We showed up today. We needed that,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Obviously, Pete setting the tone in the first inning was important. We just continued to add on.”
Blown out in three of the first four games, including the previous two nights at home, the wild-card Mets turned the tables and saved their thrilling season for the second time in the playoffs — both with the help of a three-run shot by Alonso. They trimmed their series deficit to 3-2 and sent the best-of-seven NLCS back to Los Angeles for Game 6.
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“After yesterday’s game, we just had a collective conversation where it was like: ‘Hey, this is it,’” Alonso said. “This is who we are. This is the situation we’re in and let’s keep continuing to lay it all out there.”
With an opportunity to pitch his hometown team into the World Series, an ailing Flaherty flopped. After throwing seven shutout innings of two-hit ball in a Game 1 win, he fell behind 3-0 four batters in when Alonso launched a low slider 132m to center field for his fourth homer this post-season.
“He wasn’t sharp, clearly. He’s been fighting something. He’s been under the weather a little bit,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said about Flaherty. “So I don’t know if that bled into the stuff, the velocity. I’m not sure.”
Alonso, poised to become a prized free agent this fall, also hit a go-ahead shot with the Mets facing elimination in Game 3 of their Wild Card Series at Milwaukee.
Once again, Alonso went deep to help prolong his tenure with a Mets team who drafted him in 2016. The ball was very low when he connected, the second-lowest pitch Alonso has homered on in his career.
“For the rest of us mortals, we fly out, but for him, it’s just an absolute bomb. Just normal Pete,” teammate Brandon Nimmo said.
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